Ryan Wentzel2020-05-24T17:45:02-07:00https://ryanlwentzel.comRyan Wentzel/favicon.icoGive Me Understanding, That I May Keep Your Law and Observe It With My Whole Heart2020-05-19T11:56:29-07:00https://ryanlwentzel.com/2020/05/19/give-me-understanding-that-may-keep-your-law<p><img src="https://d1yo597syf8yny.cloudfront.net/images/featured/deyoung-10-commandments-02.jpg" alt="The Ten Commandments by Kevin DeYoung" /></p>
<p>I’m getting ready to preach on the Ten Commandments at my church as we work our way through the book of Exodus on Sunday mornings. I’m excited to use Kevin DeYoung’s book, <em>The 10 Commandments: What They Mean, Why They Matter, and Why We Should Obey Them</em>, as an aid in my sermon prep. From what I can tell so far, it’s thoroughly biblical, rooted in the Reformed tradition (that’s a good thing in my opinion), informative, accessible, and practical.</p>
<p>I’ve been a Christian for over twenty years, but I’ve never heard a series of sermons on the Decalogue, at least not at any of the churches I’ve been part of. I suspect the same is true for many believers my age.</p>
<p>There was a time when the Ten Commandments were a core component of the church’s discipleship program. New believers were taught the Christian faith and life by means of three tools: the Apostles’ Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, and the Ten Commandments. The idea was that these summaries of Christian belief, piety, and practice would provide new converts with a solid foundation for a lifetime of following Christ.</p>
<p>The church in America has largely abandoned this historic practice. I don’t think we’re better off for it. The theological ignorance, prayerlessness, and moral confusion that characterize much of American Evangelicalism are signs that we need to rethink how we’re doing discipleship. By “rethink” I don’t necessarily mean come up with something new. Rather, we need to draw on the heritage left to us by our fathers and mothers in the faith. There’s ancient wisdom available to us in the tried-and-true practices of the Christian church, wisdom we can learn from and apply to our contemporary church life. We stand to gain much from recovering the practice of catechesis — systematic instruction in the Christian faith.</p>
<p>Consider four things believers young and old could learn from receiving a thorough grounding in the Ten Commandments.</p>
<ol>
<li><strong>Who God is.</strong> The Ten Commandments teach us about God. They show us that he is Creator and Redeemer. He alone is worthy of our wholehearted love, devotion, trust, and obedience. He is the Sovereign Lord. His authority extends to every detail of our lives: our desires, thoughts, words, and deeds; our loyalties; our time; our relationships in the home, the church, and the community; our possessions and even our sexuality.</li>
<li><strong>Who we are.</strong> The Ten Commandments teach us that we are people created in the image of God — people created to know him, love him, and serve him. But we are also sinners who have rebelled against the Creator. We’ve broken his law in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We’re guilty, deserving of God’s just punishment. We need a Savior.</li>
<li><strong>What Christ has done for us.</strong> The Ten Commandments show us our sin, but they also help us better appreciate Christ’s obedience on our behalf and his suffering the curse of our law-breaking in our place. A better understanding of the Ten Commandments leads to a better understanding of the gospel. A better understanding of the gospel inevitably produces within us an ever-deepening gratitude to God for his grace.</li>
<li><strong>How to live for God’s glory.</strong> As men and women pardoned by God and clothed in Christ’s righteousness, we do not relate to God’s law as an instrument of justification or condemnation. Instead, the law functions for us as a guide to righteous living (the third use of the law). The Ten Commandments help us understand that we are loved by God and have been redeemed from the bondage of sin and death. God has recreated us in Christ to reflect his righteousness with our lives. We’re indwelt by the Holy Spirit, who has written God’s law on our hearts such that we now have the desire and ability to do what God commands — though, to be sure, in this life our obedience will always be imperfect and incomplete. Nevertheless, grateful, Spirit-empowered obedience to God’s good and perfect law pleases him, just like an earthly father delights in his daughter’s imperfect attempts to do what he asks out of love for him.</li>
</ol>
<p>I’ve taken up the psalmist’s prayer and made it my own request for my church and myself: <q>Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart</q> (Psalm 119:34).</p>
Our Great God, Your Steadfast Love Endures Forever2020-05-17T20:23:38-07:00https://ryanlwentzel.com/prayers/pastoral-prayer-may-17-2020<p><img src="https://d1yo597syf8yny.cloudfront.net/images/featured/woman-praying.jpg" alt="woman praying" /></p>
<p>Our great God,<br />
we come before you this morning<br />
in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.</p>
<p>We praise you because your steadfast love endures forever.<br />
You are the God of gods and the Lord of lords.<br />
There is no one in heaven or on earth<br />
who compares to you.</p>
<p>You alone do great wonders.<br />
By your understanding you made the heavens.<br />
You spread out the earth above the waters.<br />
You made the sun to rule over the day;<br />
the moon and the stars to rule over the night.<br />
Your steadfast love endures forever.</p>
<p>You rescued your people from bondage in Egypt<br />
by the hand of Moses.<br />
Your steadfast love endures forever.</p>
<p>You have rescued us, your people,<br />
from our bondage to sin and death<br />
by the hand of the true &amp; greater Moses,<br />
our exalted Redeemer, Jesus Christ.<br />
Your steadfast love endures forever.</p>
<p>You have blessed us in Christ with every blessing<br />
that comes from the Holy Spirit.<br />
Your steadfast love endures forever.</p>
<p>We praise and thank you, God of heaven,<br />
for your enduring steadfast love,<br />
a rock of stability for us in such uncertain times.</p>
<p>O God, to you all hearts are open,<br />
all desires are known,<br />
and no secrets are hidden.<br />
Be merciful to us for Jesus’ sake.</p>
<p>If you were to keep a record of our wrongdoing,<br />
who, O Lord, could stand before you?<br />
Our thoughts so often do not take you into account.<br />
Our love for you and our neighbors is fickle.<br />
O God, we have been impatient, irritable, sinfully angry.</p>
<p>For this and our many other sins,<br />
we ask that you would forgive us.<br />
We know that you abundantly pardon<br />
through Jesus, our Mediator.<br />
Wash us and we shall be clean.
Purge us and help us<br />
by the power of the Holy Spirit<br />
to live as forgiven people.</p>
<p>Our Father, we pray that you would bless<br />
the ministry of your Word<br />
which we have been conducting online.<br />
May the hearts of your people be refreshed.<br />
May your people be strengthened<br />
to patiently endure affliction<br />
as from your fatherly hand.</p>
<p>Bless the work of our partners in missions<br />
in Canada, Argentina, Spain, Germany, and [country].<br />
Make the work of these faithful servants of Christ fruitful.<br />
Give them rest, Lord, so they might<br />
continue to serve you without burning out.</p>
<p>We pray for those who serve our common welfare in earthly things.<br />
Give those whom you’ve ordained to govern us wisdom and endurance<br />
Restrain them from abusing authority.<br />
We ask that you would use them<br />
as agents of your common grace blessings<br />
to our fellow citizens in the nation and in our own state.</p>
<p>Our Father, we desire to gather as your people again.<br />
Would you hasten that day.<br />
Help us to wait on you in the meantime.<br />
Give those of us who serve as elders and deacons<br />
wisdom as we plan for the future.</p>
<p>Give each of us here at GBC humility<br />
as we navigate differences over the COVID-19 situation.<br />
Grant us grace to eagerly preserve the unity of the Spirit<br />
in the bond of peace.</p>
<p>Our supreme desire, O God,<br />
is that your holy name would be glorified<br />
in all that we think, say, and do.<br />
To that end, hear our prayers and answer in such a way<br />
that promotes our eternal good<br />
and your everlasting praise,<br />
for we pray in Jesus’ strong name.</p>
Our Gracious God and Heavenly Father2020-05-11T10:57:04-07:00https://ryanlwentzel.com/prayers/pastoral-prayer-may-03-2020<p><img src="https://d1yo597syf8yny.cloudfront.net/images/featured/empty-pews.jpg" alt="empty pews" /></p>
<p>Our gracious God and heavenly Father,<br />
we come before you this morning to give you praise.<br />
We praise you as the God of all grace.<br />
You are merciful and gracious, slow to anger,<br />
and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,<br />
keeping steadfast love for thousands,<br />
forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.</p>
<p>We see your love and mercy and grace most clearly<br />
in your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.<br />
He is the radiance of your glory,<br />
the Word become flesh,<br />
full of grace and truth.</p>
<p>In his righteous life, sacrificial death, and triumphant resurrection<br />
we see that you, O God, are for us, your people.<br />
You did not spare your own Son, but gave him up for us all.<br />
How will you not also with him graciously give us all things<br />
that pertain to life and godliness.</p>
<p>We adore you Father for your heart of overflowing love.<br />
We adore you Lord Jesus for your compassion.<br />
We adore you Holy Spirit for pouring into our hearts<br />
the divine love that is beyond our comprehension.</p>
<p>Glory to you, our Triune God.</p>
<hr class="cross" />
<p>God of all mercy, as we come before you this morning,<br />
we acknowledge that our sins are many.<br />
We have offended you in thought and word and deed,<br />
not only by obvious violations of your law,<br />
but also by failing to conform to its perfect commands.</p>
<p>We confess that are our hearts are often cold toward you,<br />
when they ought to be glowing with love and delight.</p>
<p>We are prone to grumble and complain<br />
about how you’ve ordered our circumstances.<br />
How ungrateful we can be.</p>
<p>You are the God who has led us<br />
all these years of our earthly pilgrimage.<br />
You have provided abundantly<br />
for our needs time and time again.<br />
You have been with us in days of difficulty,<br />
blessing us with a sense of your presence,<br />
reassuring us of your love and care.<br />
Yet we complain because we don’t like the situation.</p>
<p>Forgive us, O Lord.<br />
Purge us from the guilt and stain of our sin<br />
and we shall be clean.<br />
Enable us to entrust ourselves to your wise providence,<br />
so that we may be patient in adversity.</p>
<p>Forgive us for grumbling<br />
about the leaders you have placed over us in government.<br />
All too often, especially during this pandemic,<br />
we have not exemplified the attitudes and actions<br />
you command us to display as pilgrim people.</p>
<p>We chafe against authority.<br />
We speak evil of those you have placed over us.<br />
We are not gentle and respectful<br />
toward those with whom we disagree,<br />
but proud, intellectually arrogant, quarrelsome and rude.</p>
<p>Merciful God, forgive us.<br />
We hang our heads in shame for how our words<br />
and attitudes and actions fail to show forth<br />
the gentleness and lowliness<br />
of our Lord Jesus Christ.</p>
<p>Enable us, O God,<br />
to replace unkind words with respectful speech<br />
that imparts grace and wisdom to the hearer.<br />
Enable us to be humble, to show perfect courtesy<br />
toward all, no matter their political party.</p>
<p>Despite the ugliness of our sin, you have promised<br />
that if we confess our sins to you,<br />
you will readily forgive us for Jesus’s sake.</p>
<p>We rejoice in your promise<br />
and find great comfort in knowing<br />
that though are sins are many<br />
your mercy is more.</p>
<hr class="cross" />
<p>Father, we pray for your blessing on the work<br />
of the gospel here in Escondido.<br />
May the many faithful, gospel-preaching churches<br />
in our city continue to announce the good news<br />
of Jesus Christ.<br />
We think of New Life Presbyterian Church,<br />
Escondido OPC, and Escondido URC.</p>
<p>Beyond Escondido, we think of our fellow FIRE churches,<br />
Valley Center Community Church<br />
and Grace Bible Church San Diego.<br />
Give these churches the strength to endure<br />
these difficult circumstances we find ourselves in.</p>
<p>We pray for the [Names] in [location].<br />
Keep them healthy.<br />
Bless their work in the local church<br />
and in the seminary.</p>
<p>Give wisdom to our elected leaders.<br />
Give them humility and a desire<br />
to serve the common good.</p>
<p>God of all comfort, you comfort us in all our affliction,<br />
give your comfort to our sister [Name]<br />
in the midst of her loss.</p>
<p>We thank you for [Name’s] testimony<br />
of confident trust in Jesus Christ<br />
as his only Savior and Lord.<br />
Thank you for preserving him in the faith<br />
throughout his long health trials.<br />
We take great comfort in knowing<br />
that he now sees the Savior,<br />
whom he loved so much, face to face.</p>
<p>O God, you are a God who draws near<br />
to the lonely and brokenhearted.<br />
Would you come near<br />
to those in our congregation who live alone <br />
and to those who are struggling with the isolation<br />
that we’re living under right now.<br />
Give them an awareness of your presence.<br />
Encourage them with your Word.<br />
Be to them their refuge and strength,<br />
a very present help in time of trouble.</p>
<p>Our Father in heaven,<br />
what a privilege it is to speak to you in prayer.<br />
What an encouragement to know that you hear us<br />
because we come to you<br />
through our elder brother at your right hand,<br />
Jesus Christ, your eternal Son. Amen.</p>
Our Help is in the Name of the LORD: A Meditation on Psalm 1242020-05-11T10:17:58-07:00https://ryanlwentzel.com/articles/meditation-on-psalm-124<p><img src="https://d1yo597syf8yny.cloudfront.net/images/featured/isle-skye.jpg" alt="Isle of Skye" /></p>
<p>The Christian life is less like a pleasant stroll through the park and more like hand-to-hand combat on a battlefield. We face enemies both within and without. Fear or discouragement paralyzes us when we forget that the Divine Warrior is on our side to protect and defend us.</p>
<h2 id="overview">Overview</h2>
<p>Psalm 124 is the fifth psalm in the collection of fifteen psalms known as the “Songs of Ascents” (120–134). Jewish pilgrims traveled to Jerusalem three times each year to celebrate festivals (Deut 16:16). They sang these psalms on the way to the holy city and at the festal celebrations after their arrival.</p>
<p>In Psalm 124 the psalmist leads the pilgrim people of God in giving thanks to the LORD for delivering them from a powerful enemy and in expressing their confident trust in the God who is on their side.</p>
<p>It is composed of three parts:<sup id="fnref:1-mays"><a href="#fn:1-mays" class="footnote">1</a></sup></p>
<ol>
<li>Recollection of danger (vv. 1–5)</li>
<li>Praise for deliverance (vv. 6–7)</li>
<li>Confession of trust (v. 8)</li>
</ol>
<h3 id="recollection-of-danger">Recollection of danger</h3>
<p>The psalm begins by recollecting the terrible danger from which the LORD delivered the worshipers (vv. 1–5). The psalmist sings out the opening line: “If it had not been the LORD who was on our side.” Before completing his statement, he calls the congregation to join him in repeating the declaration: “let Israel now say—if it had not been the LORD who was on our side…” (vv. 1–2). The intentional delay in finishing the conditional statement creates dramatic tension. The reader wants to know how the pilgrims’s circumstances would have turned out differently had not the LORD been on their side.</p>
<p>The psalm doesn’t provide details about the specific danger faced by the people beyond indicating that hostile enemies had threatened them (v. 2). Instead vivid images are employed <q cite="Psalms 73–150 by Derek Kidner">to bring home to us the total disaster that had loomed so near</q>.<sup id="fnref:1"><a href="#fn:1" class="footnote">2</a></sup> Israel’s enemy, in its fiery anger, was like a hideous monster able to consume its prey in a single gulp (v. 3).<sup id="fnref:2"><a href="#fn:2" class="footnote">3</a></sup> The imagery shifts in verses 4 and 5 to overpowering flood waters threatening to engulf the people. Before such an enemy the pilgrims were helpless.</p>
<h3 id="praise-for-deliverance">Praise for deliverance</h3>
<p>After recalling their danger the congregation praises the LORD for rescuing them from the fangs of their enemy (v. 6). In yet another metaphor, their deliverance is pictured as a bird narrowly escaping the fowler’s snare (v. 7). Their situation had not been one of mere <em>potential</em> danger but <em>actual</em> danger from which they almost did not escape. The response of praise acknowledges that their deliverance was not due to their own wisdom or strength but rather the LORD exercising his saving power.</p>
<h3 id="confession-of-trust">Confession of trust</h3>
<p>The final verse (v. 8) is a confession of confident trust in the LORD—the pilgrims’s covenant God—who fights as a warrior against their enemies. As the Creator of heaven and earth, his power is infinite. The strength and ferocity of Israel’s enemies were no match for the Almighty. He is on the pilgrims’s side (vv. 1,2) and has exercised his might on their behalf in the past. Therefore, his pilgrim people declare their continued trust in him: “Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.”</p>
<h2 id="reflection">Reflection</h2>
<p>As God’s people under the new covenant, we are no longer obligated to make pilgrimages to Jerusalem. Yet we, like the faithful in the Old Testament, are a pilgrim people. Along with Abraham and his descendants, we are “strangers and exiles on the earth” (Heb 11:13; cf. 1 Pet 1:1,17; 2:11), people “seeking a homeland” (Heb 11:14) and desiring “a better country, that is, a heavenly one” (Heb 11:16). “For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come” (Heb 13:14). We are not a settled people; we are people on a journey to the new Jerusalem (Heb 12:22), our eternal home where we will experience true rest and <em>shalom</em>.</p>
<p>God doesn’t promise us an easy, pain-free pilgrimage. In fact, we should expect opposition as we travel toward the heavenly city (John 15:20; 16:33; Acts 14:22; 1 Thess 3:3; 1 Tim 3:13; 1 Pet 5:10). Like the pilgrims’s enemies in Psalm 124, our enemies are fierce and seek to destroy us. “Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Pet 5:8). Satan and his evil army of demons wage war against the Church (Eph 6:10–12).</p>
<p>We journey through a world in rebellion against its Creator. Hostility toward the Creator often is expressed in hostility toward God’s people. Jesus reminded his followers, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you” (John 15:18). Likewise, Peter told his Christian readers the world would slander them and accuse them of being evildoers for faithfully following Christ (1 Pet 2:12; 3:16; 4:4).</p>
<p>Despite the danger and difficulty of our pilgrimage, we can be confident that our enemies will not ultimately destroy us. Paul alludes to Psalm 124 when he says in Romans 8:31, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” Our earthly and spiritual enemies cannot successfully oppose us, at least not ultimately. God has pledged himself to be our helper and defender. He proved it by not sparing his own Son but instead delivering him up to death on a tree in order to bear in our place the divine curse and wrath against our sin. Having given his beloved Son to be our sin-bearing Savior, how will he not protect us from every enemy of our soul (Rom 8:32; Gal 3:13)?</p>
<p>Satan, earthly enemies, and even our own conscience may level charges against us. But we do not need to fear because the Judge has already pronounced us to be righteous in his sight through faith in Jesus Christ (Rom 8:33). The court of heaven will never condemn us because the sinless Son of God paid in full the penalty of our sin. He was raised in victory and now appears in heaven at the right hand of God on our behalf as our Mediator (Rom 8:34).</p>
<p>As noted above, having God on our side does not mean we are exempt from suffering. The pilgrim way is the way of the cross. But in all our adversity “we are more than conquerors <em>through him who loved us</em>” (Rom 8:36–37, emphasis added). God’s saving love for his people is like Super Glue: the bond can never be broken. Therefore, we can be certain that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom 8:38–39).</p>
</blockquote>
<h2 id="response">Response</h2>
<p>What enemies do you fear? Do you worry they are about to swallow you up alive with no chance of escape?</p>
<p>Psalm 124 reminds us that our God is a strong warrior who fights for his people. Because he is on our side, the schemes of our enemies will fail in the end. Because he is our helper, we can put our trust in him. Such well-placed confidence guards our hearts from paralyzing worry and crippling fear.</p>
<p>When fear begins to fasten its grip on you, remember this: “Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.” Turn to him. Entrust yourself to him. Rest in him, knowing that he fights for you.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Almighty God, and merciful Father, thou seest the multitude, the force, and the exceeding rage of our enemies to be so great that they would devour and tear us in pieces if thy bountiful mercy did not relieve and succour us. But, seeing their craft and fury increase and grow from day to day, declare thou thyself to be our defender and protector; that we, escaping their gins and snares, may give ourselves wholly to praising and magnifying thy most holy and blessed Name, and that through Jesus Christ, thy dear Son, our only Lord and Saviour. Amen.<sup id="fnref:3"><a href="#fn:3" class="footnote">4</a></sup></p>
</blockquote>
<div class="footnotes">
<ol>
<li id="fn:1-mays">
<p>James L. Mays, <em>Psalms</em>, Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 1994), 396. <a href="#fnref:1-mays" class="reversefootnote">&#8617;</a></p>
</li>
<li id="fn:1">
<p>Derek Kidner, <em>Psalms 73–150</em> (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2008), 65. <a href="#fnref:1" class="reversefootnote">&#8617;</a></p>
</li>
<li id="fn:2">
<p>Ibid., 66. <a href="#fnref:2" class="reversefootnote">&#8617;</a></p>
</li>
<li id="fn:3">
<p>David B. Calhoun and C.G. McCrie, <em>Prayers on the Psalms: From the Scottish Psalter of 1595</em> (Edinburgh, U.K.; Carlisle, PA.: Banner of Truth Trust, 2010), 129. <a href="#fnref:3" class="reversefootnote">&#8617;</a></p>
</li>
</ol>
</div>
A Brief Encouragement to a Church Weary of Living in Lockdown2020-05-06T22:07:26-07:00https://ryanlwentzel.com/2020/05/06/brief-encouragement-to-gbc<p><img src="https://d1yo597syf8yny.cloudfront.net/images/featured/empty-pews-01.jpg" alt="" /></p>
<p><em>I offered the following encouragement to my congregation last Sunday at the beginning of the sermon video we recorded.</em></p>
<hr class="cross" />
<p>Here we are. Another Sunday online. I think a word that captures how many of us feel lately is <em>weary</em>. <em>Weary</em> of bad news. <em>Weary</em> of isolation. <em>Weary</em> of economic fears. <em>Weary</em> of not gathering on the Lord’s Day.</p>
<p>If that’s how you feel, you’re not alone. I feel it, too.</p>
<p>Weariness is a reminder to us to turn to our God. Isaiah tells us that our God does not faint or ever grow weary. And our ever energetic God gives power and strength to his people who are at the end of their own.</p>
<p>So friends, in your weariness wait on the Lord. He will renew your strength (Isa 40:27–31).</p>
Jesus Loves Me, This I Know2020-04-30T08:10:55-07:00https://ryanlwentzel.com/2020/04/30/jesus-loves-me<p><img src="https://d1yo597syf8yny.cloudfront.net/images/featured/boy-bible.jpg" alt="" /></p>
<p><q>Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.</q> This line from a classic children’s hymn is familiar to many of us, especially if you grew up going to Sunday school. You likely know the rest of the words by heart.</p>
<p>My sense is that as adult believers we think the hymn is memorable but rather simplistic; helpful to children but too elementary for the mature.</p>
<p>But is it? Do you <em>really</em> know that Jesus loves you? Are you confident in his love, or do you struggle to believe that he could love someone like you? Sinful, dirty, foolish you. Doubting you. Weak you. Angry, bitter, impatient you.</p>
<p>Truth be told, we know the words from the song, but we often find them difficult to believe.</p>
<p>Part of the reason for this is we tend to think that Jesus’s love is contingent on our performance. On our “good” days, “he loves me.” And the “bad” days? Well, “he loves me not. But, if I can get my act together, if I have enough good days in a row, maybe he’ll like me.”</p>
<p>Jerry Bridges called this <q>the performance treadmill.</q> We know that our sins are forgiven freely by grace through faith in Christ. But we think and live as if we now need to merit God’s love and acceptance by our ongoing obedience. We spend our days working up a sweat on the treadmill. Eventually, though, you grow tired and collapse in spiritual despair.</p>
<p>Many Christians, myself included, have an impoverished understanding of the love of God in Christ. We think he’s miserly with his love. We suspect his love is limited. We fear that our sin causes his love for us to wane.</p>
<p>We’re like the prodigal son in the parable in Luke 15:11–32. As he prepares to return home, he comes up with a speech to make to his father: “I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants” (Luke 15:19). He doesn’t expect the father to welcome him back with open arms. Instead he prepares for a public shaming ceremony. And afterwards? The father won’t love him as a son. How could he? The son’s behavior earlier was inexcusable. Perhaps, though, his father will treat him like a slave. That’s better than nothing, right? Such was the son’s failure to truly understand his father’s love.<sup id="fnref:1"><a href="#fn:1" class="footnote">1</a></sup></p>
<p>John Owen observed that many believers are afflicted with a debilitating soul sickness. They see God as one who is only, or mostly, angry, wrathful, and easily provoked, rather than how he reveals himself in the gospel: a God of overflowing love toward undeserving sinners.</p>
<p>What’s the result of our defective view of God’s love? We don’t enjoy the rich, soul-nourishing communion with God that is our privilege as those upon whom he has set his love.</p>
<p>God wants you, Christian, to know his love. He wants you to bask in it, to delight in it, to be assured of it. He wants you to “eye him,” to use Owen’s expression, as a fountain of inexhaustible love for you.</p>
<p>“Really?” you might wonder. “Isn’t that presumptuous?” No, it’s not. God delights to pour out his love on us: “The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing” (Zeph 3:17). And he wants us to delight in receiving his love. Scripture invites us to marvel at the love God has shown to us: “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are” (1 John 3:1).</p>
<p>How can you learn to delight in God’s love for you? Let me suggest two ways.</p>
<p><strong>1. Pray for God to plant the knowledge of his love deep in the core of your heart</strong>. That’s what Paul prayed for the church in Ephesus.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith — that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God (Eph 3:14–19).</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It’s one thing to know the words to <cite>Jesus Loves Me, This I Know</cite>; it’s another for God’s love in Christ to be a soul-shaping reality in your everyday life. His love is a love to be known and experienced, and such experience of his love is only possible by the work of the Holy Spirit within us. That’s why Paul prays the way he does — for God to strengthen believers by the power of the Spirit so they would “comprehend” and “know” his love.</p>
<p><strong>2. Spend time meditating on God’s love</strong>. I want to point you specifically to the <cite><a href="https://www.crossway.org/articles/gentle-and-lowly-a-14-day-devotional/">Gentle and Lowly</a></cite> podcast by Dane Ortlund. It’s a 14-day devotional podcast based on his book <cite><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Gentle-Lowly-Christ-Sinners-Sufferers-ebook/dp/B086GWZ6CY/">Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers</a></cite>. Each episode is a three to four minute meditation on one aspect of Christ’s heart of love for people like you and me — people who are sinful, flawed, and weak.</p>
<p>I have to say, the podcast has confronted me with how deficient my knowledge of Christ’s love is. I simply haven’t appreciated enough what it means to be loved by Christ. Dane Ortlund is helping me. I think you’ll find the same to be true for you.</p>
<p>Maybe <cite>Jesus Loves Me, This I Know</cite> isn’t simply a children’s song after all. Maybe it’s something all of us, no matter our age, need to learn to sing with more assurance.</p>
<div class="footnotes">
<ol>
<li id="fn:1">
<p>Sinclair B. Ferguson, <em>The Trinitarian Devotion of John Owen</em> (Orlando, FL: Reformation Trust, 2014), 54. <a href="#fnref:1" class="reversefootnote">&#8617;</a></p>
</li>
</ol>
</div>
Check Out These Resources (April 29)2020-04-29T18:06:02-07:00https://ryanlwentzel.com/2020/04/29/check-out-these-resources<p><img src="https://d1yo597syf8yny.cloudfront.net/images/featured/beach-01.jpg" alt="The beach" /></p>
<p>I’m keeping today’s list intentionally short. We’re bombarded with so much information each day. I don’t want to add to the noise. However, I do think the resources listed below are worth exploring.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.ligonier.org/learn/series/the-book-of-job/">The Book of Job</a>. A video teaching series from Ligonier Ministries. It’s free to stream right now. <q>Why does God permit suffering? It’s a question all of us have asked, and the life of Job points us toward the answer. In The Book of Job, Derek Thomas walks us through the book of Job and considers what the Bible says about our darkest moments and how we can learn to trust God in every trial.</q></p>
<p><a href="https://www.crossway.org/articles/10-key-bible-verses-on-gods-sovereignty/">10 Key Verses on God’s Sovereignty</a> by Crossway. A brief article with helpful comments from the ESV Study Bible. <q>When life feels out of control, it can be comforting to remember that we’re never out of the sight of our Creator—and he never loses control.</q></p>
<p><a href="https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/when-kids-wont-bow-to-your-idols/">When Kids Won’t Bow to Your Idols</a> by Jennifer Phillips at The Gospel Coalition’s website. <q>The most profound parenting quote I’ve ever heard is from Dan Allender: <q>One of the biggest sources of conflict between you and your kids is when they refuse to bow down to your idols.</q> I dare you to cross-stitch that and give it to a friend at her baby shower.</q></p>
<p><a href="https://www.bibledesignblog.com/">Bible Design Blog</a>. This one is for my fellow geeks. Bible Design Blog focuses on the physical form of the Bible. J. Mark Bertrand discusses <q>good design with an emphasis on reader-friendly formats, which means elegant layout, opaque paper, and sewn bindings that open flat. The Bible is more than a reference work. It’s meant to be read. Choices made by designers, printers, and bookbinders all influence readability — though their sway usually goes unremarked. Not here.</q> Mark doesn’t write as frequently as he used to, but his site is still worth exploring. Read his reviews (with lots of pictures) of various high-quality editions of the English Bible to get a better of understanding of why the form in which Scripture is presented matters.</p>
<p>Finally, I’ve been meditating on two questions and answers from the <cite>Heidelberg Catechism</cite> about God’s providence. I encourage you to make them matters for thought and prayer during these trying times.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Q. 27. What do you understand by the providence of God?</strong><br />
A. Providence is the almighty and ever present power of God by which God upholds, as with his hand, heaven and earth and all creatures, and so rules them that leaf and blade, rain and drought, fruitful and lean years, food and drink, health and sickness, prosperity and poverty — all things, in fact, come to us not by chance but by his fatherly hand.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Q. 28. How does the knowledge of God’s creation and providence help us?</strong><br />
A. We can be patient in adversity, thankful in prosperity, and for the future we can have good confidence in our faithful God and Father that no creature will separate us from his love. For all creatures are so completely in his hand that without his will they can neither move nor be moved.</p>
</blockquote>
Great are You, O Lord, and Greatly to be Praised2020-04-26T14:07:00-07:00https://ryanlwentzel.com/prayers/pastoral-prayer-apr-26-2020<p><img src="https://d1yo597syf8yny.cloudfront.net/images/featured/empty-pews.jpg" alt="" /></p>
<p>Great are you, O Lord,<br />
and greatly to be praised.<br />
Your greatness is unsearchable.</p>
<p>Who is a God like you,<br />
majestic in holiness,<br />
awesome in glory,<br />
working wonders?</p>
<p>Who on the earth can compare to you, O Lord?<br />
Who among the creatures in heaven is equal to you?<br />
O Lord God Almighty, who is a mighty God like you?</p>
<p>You alone are God!<br />
You are the King eternal, immortal, invisible.</p>
<h2 id="adoration">Adoration</h2>
<p>Father, we adore you as the Sovereign Lord.<br />
You are the Almighty God,<br />
the maker of heaven and earth.</p>
<p>Lord Jesus Christ, we adore you<br />
as the eternal Son of God,<br />
begotten from the Father before all ages,<br />
God of God,<br />
Light from Light,<br />
true God from true God.</p>
<p>For us and for our salvation,<br />
you came down from heaven<br />
and became incarnate by the Holy Spirit — <br />
eternal God in our very flesh.</p>
<p>We praise you as our exalted Redeemer,<br />
our Mediator at God’s right hand.<br />
Your very presence in heaven<br />
is your intercession for us.</p>
<p>Holy Spirit, we adore you,<br />
the Comforter sent from the Father and the Son.<br />
You have been given to us in order to bring us<br />
into the full enjoyment of our salvation.</p>
<p>Our great and awesome Triune God,<br />
we worship and glorify you this morning.</p>
<h2 id="confession">Confession</h2>
<p>Gracious God and Father of mercy,<br />
we confess that we have sinned against you.<br />
Who among us would want to list all of their faults?<br />
We all offend, in many different ways,<br />
and our sins are more numerous<br />
than the hairs of our head.</p>
<p>We have every reason to be humbled<br />
for the pride of our hearts, which has deceived us.<br />
We’ve thought of ourselves more highly<br />
than we ought to think.<br />
We’ve not made an honest, sober<br />
evaluation of ourselves.<br />
We’ve not walked humbly with you, our gracious God.</p>
<p>We confess that we’ve sinned against<br />
our brothers and sisters in Christ.<br />
We’ve not studied carefully<br />
the things that make for peace.<br />
We’ve failed to do all within our power<br />
to build up and encourage others.<br />
We’ve been all too ready to judge<br />
and have forgotten that we will all soon<br />
stand before the judgment seat of Christ.</p>
<p>Where we’ve wronged each other,<br />
lead us into a path of humility,<br />
confessing our wrongdoing <br />
and seeking forgiveness and peace, <br />
as much as it depends on us.</p>
<p>Merciful Father,<br />
forgive our pride and selfishness.<br />
For your name’s sake,<br />
pardon our iniquity, for it is great.<br />
Turn to us and be gracious to us.<br />
Wash us thoroughly and cleanse us from our sin.</p>
<p>O Father, even as we confess our sin to you,<br />
we remember that you are good<br />
and always ready to forgive,<br />
more ready to forgive than we are to confess.</p>
<p>We take heart knowing<br />
that we have an advocate in heaven,<br />
Jesus Christ the Righteous One,<br />
he is the propitiation for our sins.</p>
<p>We put our trust in your promise<br />
that if we confess our sins,<br />
you are faithful and just<br />
to forgive us our sins<br />
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.</p>
<p>How blessed we are <br />
that our transgression is forgiven<br />
and our sin covered<br />
because of the shed blood<br />
and perfect righteousness<br />
of Christ our Savior.</p>
<h2 id="thanksgiving">Thanksgiving</h2>
<p>Our steadfast and faithful heavenly Father,<br />
we thank you for the riches<br />
of your mercy and grace.</p>
<p>We revel in the peace we have with you<br />
since we’ve been justified in your sight<br />
through faith in your Son.</p>
<p>We thank you for your continued presence<br />
with us during these trying days.<br />
We’re grateful that you are not a God<br />
who is far off but a God who is near<br />
in the person of your Son<br />
and through the indwelling presence<br />
of the Holy Spirit.</p>
<h2 id="supplication">Supplication</h2>
<p>O God, we thank you that by and large<br />
this church has been spared from the virus.<br />
Continue to protect us<br />
and keep us healthy and strong.</p>
<p>Father, we pray for healthcare workers<br />
and others on the front lines<br />
of serving the sick and the suffering.<br />
Give them energy. Sustain them<br />
as they work long hours.</p>
<p>Give wisdom to our elected officials<br />
and other national, state, and local leaders.<br />
O Lord, may they use their position and authority<br />
to serve the common good.</p>
<p>Our God, we ask that we would<br />
soon be able to meet again as a church.<br />
We long to gather in your presence<br />
to lift up one voice in praise and prayer, <br />
to sit under the preaching of your Word, <br />
and to come to the Lord’s Table.</p>
<p>Grant us patience, O God.<br />
Enable us to be both<br />
faithful Christians<br />
and obedient citizens.</p>
<p>Your Word instructs us to live wisely in this world.<br />
Grant us your wisdom.<br />
Help us to live in a godly manner,<br />
that we might adorn the gospel of Jesus Christ<br />
and give no reason to the world<br />
to accuse us of being troublemakers.</p>
<p>O God, help us<br />
not to be enamored with foolish controversies;<br />
not to be distracted by unhelpful conspiracy theories.</p>
<p>May we give ourselves to prayer.<br />
May we strengthen ourselves in your Word.<br />
May we seek to love and serve and bless<br />
our families, our congregation, and our neighbors.</p>
<p>May the gospel continue to sound forth<br />
from Grace Bible Church in creative ways.<br />
We ask that people would happen upon<br />
our YouTube channel and SermonAudio page,<br />
and that they would hear your Word,<br />
turn from their sin, and put their trust in Christ.</p>
<h2 id="conclusion">Conclusion</h2>
<p>Fulfill now, O Lord,<br />
our desires and petitions<br />
as may be best for us us<br />
and in a way that brings you much glory.</p>
<p>We offer these prayers<br />
in the strong name of Jesus Christ,<br />
our Savior. Amen.</p>
Our Father in Heaven, Majestic is Your Name!2020-04-19T00:00:00-07:00https://ryanlwentzel.com/prayers/pastoral-prayer-apr-19-2020<p><img src="https://d1yo597syf8yny.cloudfront.net/images/featured/norway-camping.jpg" alt="" /></p>
<p>Our Father in heaven,<br />
majestic is your name!<br />
From the rising of the sun to its setting<br />
your name is to be praised.</p>
<p>Lord of heaven above,<br />
you are God and you alone.</p>
<p>You are the eternal God<br />
from whom,<br />
through whom,<br />
and for whom are all things.</p>
<p>We give all praise<br />
and honor<br />
and glory to you.</p>
<p>Hear our prayers<br />
in the name of Jesus,<br />
for we come to you through him.<br />
He is our Great High Priest;<br />
our intercessor and mediator.</p>
<p>Enable us,<br />
by the power of your Holy Spirit,<br />
to offer our prayers to you<br />
with confidence<br />
that your ear is open to us,<br />
with trust<br />
that you are willing<br />
and able to answer us, <br />
for the glory of your name<br />
and our everlasting good.</p>
<h2 id="hallowed-be-your-name">Hallowed Be Your Name</h2>
<p>Our Father in heaven,<br />
we rejoice in the great privilege we have<br />
to call you our Father through Jesus Christ, your Son.</p>
<p>How amazing is the love you’ve lavished on us <br />
that we should be called children of God!<br />
We rejoice that we call upon you<br />
not merely as individuals,<br />
but as members of a great family<br />
that transcends race and nationality and social status.</p>
<p>Our Father in heaven,<br />
our prayer this morning<br />
is that your name would be hallowed,<br />
that your name would be glorified,<br />
among us and throughout the world.</p>
<p>May we treat your name as holy.<br />
May our thoughts and our words and our deeds<br />
reflect your holiness.</p>
<h2 id="your-kingdom-come">Your Kingdom Come</h2>
<p>Our Father in heaven,<br />
You are a great King<br />
and even now you reign over all.<br />
But we pray, let your kingdom come.<br />
May it come in all its fullness.</p>
<p>Hasten the day when Christ returns<br />
and all evil is banished forever<br />
and the earth is filled<br />
with the knowledge of the glory of God<br />
as the waters cover the sea.</p>
<p>As we worship in your presence today,<br />
may we anticipate living before you<br />
in the world to come.</p>
<p>We pray that your kingdom would advance<br />
in this world through the preaching of the gospel.<br />
Enable us as a church<br />
to faithfully proclaim<br />
the good news here in Escondido.<br />
Help us to be winsome<br />
and gracious witnesses to the gospel<br />
with our friends and families and neighbors.<br />
Open their eyes and ears to the truth.<br />
Grant them repentance and faith.</p>
<p>O Lord, bless the work of our missionaries<br />
and partners in missions …<br />
Plant your gospel deep in the hearts<br />
of the men and women to whom they minister.</p>
<p>Keep these families safe<br />
from the virus wreaking havoc on our world.<br />
We think especially of …<br />
Continue to grant her health and strength<br />
as she recovers from COVID-19.</p>
<h2 id="your-will-be-done">Your Will Be Done</h2>
<p>Our Father in heaven,<br />
let your will be done on earth<br />
as it is in heaven.</p>
<p>Give us grace to know and do your will.<br />
Sanctify us, O God.<br />
Enable us to love and obey your commands.<br />
as people who have been raised to new life with Christ,<br />
as people who are indwelt by the Holy Spirit.</p>
<h2 id="daily-bread">Daily Bread</h2>
<p>Our Father in heaven,<br />
give us today our daily bread.</p>
<p>We’ve been reminded in recent weeks<br />
that grocery stores with overflowing shelves<br />
are not a given.</p>
<p>We thank you for this reminder<br />
of our dependence on you.<br />
Your are the great Provider,<br />
so we ask you to supply us with what we need.</p>
<p>May we share the resources you’ve given us<br />
with those among us who have lost jobs<br />
or had their work hours reduced.</p>
<p>Grant healing to those who are sick and suffering.<br />
We think of … and … and …<br />
and other family members and friends<br />
who have been infected with the coronavirus.</p>
<p>May they put their trust wholly in you.<br />
May they rest in your wisdom <br />
and sovereignty and goodness.</p>
<h2 id="forgive-us">Forgive Us</h2>
<p>Our Father in heaven,<br />
forgive us our debts,<br />
as we also have forgiven our debtors.</p>
<p>You have created and re-created us<br />
to live in true righteousness and holiness.<br />
But we confess that we have sinned against you<br />
in thought, word, and deed,<br />
by what we have done,<br />
and by what we have left undone.</p>
<p>We have not loved you<br />
with our whole heart and mind and strength.<br />
We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.<br />
If you were to keep a record of our sins,<br />
who could stand before you?</p>
<p>But with you there is forgiveness<br />
that you may be feared and loved and trusted.</p>
<p>We thank you for Jesus’ perfect sacrifice for our sins.<br />
We praise you that we have received<br />
full forgiveness of our sins: past, present, and future.</p>
<p>May we have full assurance<br />
that our guilt has been taken away<br />
and that we stand before you<br />
clothed in the spotless righteousness of Jesus Christ.</p>
<p>As evidence that our sins have been forgiven,<br />
give us grace to forgive those who’ve wronged us.</p>
<p>By your Spirit enable us<br />
to put off bitterness and anger and hardness of heart.<br />
Make us kind and tenderhearted.<br />
Work in us so that we might forgive one another<br />
as you have forgiven us in Christ.</p>
<p>May the gentleness, the humility,<br />
and the forgiveness of Christ characterize us as a church.</p>
<h2 id="deliver-us">Deliver Us</h2>
<p>Our Father in heaven, lead us not into temptation,<br />
but deliver us from the evil one.</p>
<p>Keep us from walking right into temptation’s path.<br />
Lead us into paths of truth and righteousness.</p>
<p>Guard us from the evil one.<br />
Help us to stand against his evil schemes.<br />
Strengthen us to stand firm in your truth.<br />
Enable us to battle doubts and fears and worry<br />
with your great and precious promises.<br />
Protect and preserve us.</p>
<h2 id="conclusion">Conclusion</h2>
<p>Our Father in heaven,<br />
We bring these requests to you<br />
because yours is the kingdom and the power<br />
and the glory forever.</p>
<p>You’ve promised to grant our requests<br />
when we ask in Jesus’ name.<br />
Fulfill now the desires of our heart,<br />
for we pray through Jesus Christ, our Lord,<br />
who with you and the Holy Spirit<br />
is eternally praised. Amen.</p>
What to Pray During a Global Pandemic2020-03-30T07:05:00-07:00https://ryanlwentzel.com/2020/03/30/prayer-global-pandemic<p><img src="https://d1yo597syf8yny.cloudfront.net/images/featured/world-closed.jpg" alt="" /></p>
<p>Hundreds of thousands of people around the world have been infected by novel coronavirus. The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 and deaths resulting from the illness continue to rise daily in the United States. The reality of COVID-19 is starting to hit closer to home for many of us. Maybe we have a friend, a relative, or a neighbor who has the disease.</p>
<h2 id="encouragement-to-pray">Encouragement to Pray</h2>
<p>Do you feel powerless in the face of this global health crisis? Let that sense of powerlessness drive you to prayer. The Apostle Paul wrote, “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God” (Phil 4:6).</p>
<p>As adopted sons and daughters of God, we have access to the throne room of the King of the universe. He invites our prayers. He’s promised to hear and to answer us when we come to him in Jesus’ name. There’s more we can and should do for those being affected by COVID-19 than pray, but we certainly shouldn’t do less.</p>
<h2 id="how-should-christians-pray-during-the-covid-19-crisis">How should Christians pray during the COVID-19 crisis?</h2>
<p>This isn’t the first time Christ’s Church has faced this kind of situation. We would do well to learn from past generations of believers. Two prayers from early 20th century prayer books model for us how to pray during this crisis.</p>
<p>The first prayer focuses on the sick and the suffering and those close to death.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Holy and mighty Lord, who didst turn back the angel of the plague from the dwellings of Thy people; We beseech Thee to hear our cry for those who are suffering and dying, under the visitation of disease. Mercifully bless the means which are used to stay the spread of sickness, strengthen those who labour to heal and comfort the afflicted, support those who are in pain and distress, speedily restore those who have been brought low, and unto all who are beyond healing, grant Thy heavenly consolation and Thy saving grace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.<br />
— <em>The Book of Common Worship</em> (1906).</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The second prayer acknowledges God’s sovereignty over life and death, pleads for his help, and asks him to make this trial a means of our sanctification.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>O ALMIGHTY and merciful God, with whom are the issues of life and death: Grant us, we beseech thee, help and deliverance in this time of grievous sickness and mortality, and sanctify to us this affliction, that in our sore distress we may turn our hearts unto thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.<br />
— <em>The Scottish Book of Common Prayer</em> (1929).</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Take up these prayers. Make them your own. “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb 4:16).</p>
Check Out These Resources (March 25)2020-03-25T00:00:00-07:00https://ryanlwentzel.com/2020/03/25/check-out-these-resources<p>Looking for resources to feed your mind and soul? I have some for you today.</p>
<h2 id="articles">Articles</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.challies.com/articles/more-tips-on-lockdown-from-christians-in-italy/">More Tips on Living in Lockdown from Christians in Italy</a>. Tim Challies summarizes tips he’s received from Christian friends in Italy that may prove helpful to us as we experience life under “stay at home” orders. Much of the material in Tim’s article was provided by the pastor of a <a href="https://www.firefellowship.org">F.I.R.E.</a> church in northern Italy.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/canceled-disappointment-pandemic/">Everything’s Canceled! Dealing with Disappointment in Pandemic</a>. Abbey Wedgeworth reminds us of the four places the Bible invites us to look when we suffer.</p>
<h2 id="devotional-resources">Devotional Resources</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.ligonier.org/blog/bible-reading-plans/">Bible Reading Plans for 2020</a>. Ligonier Ministries has compiled a lengthy list of different plans. We’re in March, but it’s not too late to begin a Bible reading plan. Just pick it up at today’s reading.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.crossway.org/bibles/esv-devotional-psalter-tru-2/">ESV Devotional Psalter from Crossway</a>. I find many devotional books to be a waste of time. Not this one. From Crossway’s website: “The ESV Devotional Psalter pairs each of the 150 psalms with brand-new devotional content written by Dr. Dane Ortlund, guiding readers to thoughtfully interact with and pray through the Scriptures.”</p>
<p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1433541386/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_b4QEEb23W4426">New Morning Mercies by Paul David Tripp</a>. Brief, gospel-filled meditations for every day of the year.</p>
<p><a href="https://youtu.be/v9SUYzSLmrE">How Do You Do Family Worship?</a> Don Whitney answers with three words — read, pray, sing — in this six minute video. I appreciated his counsel near the end about having realistic expectations for what this time will look like.</p>
<p><em>Ten-Minute Devotions to Draw Your Family to God</em>. Marty Machowski has written two gospel-focused devotional books for kids designed to explain God’s plan of salvation from Genesis to Revelation. Each day’s reading includes questions parents can use to help their kids understand and apply what they’ve read (or what you read to them). My ten and eleven year olds have enjoyed these books.</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1935273817/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_knREEb22EEG7X">Long Story Short</a> covers the Old Testament.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1936768666/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_vaREEbNTX7XAM">Old Story New</a> covers the New Testament.</li>
</ul>
<p><em>Private Worship</em> trilogy by Jerry Bridges. Each volume features 31 daily readings. I’ve especially benefited from the prayers Bridges wrote to conclude each day’s meditation.</p>
<ul>
<li>Volume 1: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003FCVF4A/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_nvREEb5YWR3DA">I Exalt You, O God: Encountering His Greatness in Your Private Worship</a>.</li>
<li>Volume 2: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003FCVE8C/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_krREEbVQZE1AC">I Will Follow You, O God: Embracing Him as Lord in Your Private Worship</a>.</li>
<li>Volume 3: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003FCVEUU/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_irREEb6D4BNBY">I Give You Glory, O God: Honoring His Righteousness in Your Private Worship</a>.</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="books">Books</h2>
<p>Many of us have more free time right now than we usually do. Why not invest some of that time in reading quality Christian books that help you know, love, and worship God better. Here are four recommendations.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/0143108581/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_U_x_yPQEEbZZ7GB5X">Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God</a> by Tim Keller. The best book I’ve read on prayer. In fact, I’ve read it multiple times (not something I do with most books).</p>
<p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/083081650X/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_aSQEEbD3Q15NS">Knowing God</a> by J.I. Packer. A classic. Read it slowly.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1400070643/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_RTQEEbQPP6160">The Joy of Fearing God</a> by Jerry Bridges. My favorite Jerry Bridges book. Here’s R.C. Sproul’s endorsement: <q>Reading Jerry Bridges is like eavesdropping on an angel enraptured by adoration. He understands the fear of God as an awe-filled reverence before the divine majesty. This book will expand the mind and loose the soul to soar on high.</q></p>
<p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/0830840222/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_ASSEEbRAKD3YE">Rejoicing in Christ</a> by Michael Reeves. Brief but profound exploration of the person and work of Christ.</p>
<h2 id="theology-for-children">Theology for Children</h2>
<p>The Gospel Coalition (TGC), in partnership with Songs for Saplings, offers ten free online courses for kids in basic Bible doctrine. They’re essentially catechisms set to music. No sign ups. All courses are available on-demand.</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/course/the-nature-of-god/">The Nature of God</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/course/creation/">Creation</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/course/the-fall-of-man/">The Fall of Man</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/course/salvation-for-children/">Salvation</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/course/christ-his-work/">Christ &amp; His Work</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/course/the-ten-commandments/">The Ten Commandments</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/course/the-bible/">The Bible</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/course/prayer/">Prayer</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/course/the-lords-supper-baptism/">The Lord’s Supper &amp; Baptism</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/course/christ-his-return/">Christ &amp; His Return</a></li>
</ul>
<p>Be sure to check out all of <a href="https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/courses">TGC’s free courses</a>.</p>
Check Out These Resources (March 19)2020-03-19T08:00:00-07:00https://ryanlwentzel.com/2020/03/19/check-out-these-resources<p><img src="https://d1yo597syf8yny.cloudfront.net/images/featured/coffee-01.jpg" alt="" /></p>
<p>Many of us now find ourselves a bit more housebound than usual. Maybe you’re wondering what to do with your time. Below you’ll find links to articles, sermons, audiobooks, and videos that are worth checking out.</p>
<h2 id="daily-news-podcasts">Daily News Podcasts</h2>
<p>Check out these two weekday news podcasts that analyze current events from a Christian perspective.</p>
<p><a href="https://albertmohler.com/the-briefing/">The Briefing</a> by Albert Mohler, President of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.</p>
<p><a href="https://world.wng.org/radio/worldandeverything">The World and Everything In It</a>. Produced by the same people who publish WORLD Magazine. The podcast has been described as “NPR from a Christian worldview.”</p>
<h2 id="articles">Articles</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/songs-comfort-anxious-souls/">Songs of Comfort for Anxious Souls</a> (Free Playlist). Brett McCracken has created a playlist of 100 “songs of comfort” (includes hymns and contemporary songs) that’s available on Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music. The full list of songs is at the end of the article.</p>
<p><a href="https://erlc.com/resource-library/articles/the-church-must-be-a-refuge-in-the-midst-of-fear">The Church Must be a Refuge in the Midst of Fear</a>. Lyman Stone and his wife are missionaries raising a newborn baby in Hong Kong. He writes about how his church has sought to be a refuge in the midst of fear due to the COVID–19 crisis.</p>
<p><a href="http://headhearthand.org/blog/2020/03/18/living-faith-in-testing-times-index/">Living by Faith in Testing Times</a>. David Murray, Professor of Old Testament and Practical Theology at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary, is beginning a new daily teaching series walking through the book of James. He’ll be posting the messages at his blog. A podcast and videos will be available soon. See the announcement here.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justin-taylor/guides-for-kids-and-middle-schoolers-to-take-notes-during-the-sermon/">Guides for Kids and Middle-Schoolers to Take Notes During the Sermon</a>. Now that you find yourself unable to gather for corporate worship and instead listening to sermons with the family at home, you might find it more difficult to get your kids to pay attention. Justin Taylor recommends two printable worksheets, one for younger kids and one for older kids, to help them engage with the sermon.</p>
<h2 id="audio-and-video">Audio and Video</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.challies.com/resources/one-way-to-make-the-most-of-being-housebound-with-your-family/">Make the Most of Being Housebound with Your Family</a>. Want to learn the Bible and theology from world-class scholars? Tim Challies tells you how do so from the comfort of your home.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.crossway.org/articles/podcast-a-christian-doctors-guide-to-thinking-about-coronavirus-bob-cutillo-md/">A Christian Doctor’s Guide to Thinking about Coronavirus</a>. Crossway interviews Bob Cutillo, a Christian, medical doctor, and author of Pursuing Health in an Anxious Age. I appreciated his thoughts on (1) Christians’ need to ensure our trust is in our sovereign God, (2) recognizing that we don’t ultimately have control over our health or lives, and (3) our call to love our neighbors in this crisis.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.crossway.org/articles/how-to-engage-emotionally-with-the-bible/">How to Engage Emotionally with the Bible</a>. One and a half minute video. Jen Wilkin says, “Women in particular sometimes approach their time in Scripture looking to receive some sort of emotional dose of something from it. That’s not necessarily wrong, but sometimes it’s a little out of order. I would argue that when you spend time in the Bible, thinking about what it’s saying, you’re going to have deep and real emotions that result from contact with the text.”</p>
<p><a href="https://www.ligonier.org/blog/all-teaching-series-now-free-stream/">Ligonier Teaching Series Now Free to Stream</a>. Ligonier Ministries, the teaching fellowship of R.C. Sproul, has made their entire library of teaching series free to stream. Check out Ligonier.org to find hundreds of series by Reformed pastors and theologians such as, R.C. Sproul, Sinclair Ferguson, Derek Thomas, W. Robert Godfrey, and others.</p>
<p><a href="https://christianaudio.com/">ChristianAudio.com</a>. Christian Audio has thousands of audiobooks from various Christian publishers. They offer a free audiobook every month. This month it’s <a href="https://christianaudio.com/free">Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer</a>.</p>
<p>Looking for sermons to listen to or watch? Here are some of my recommendations:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Martyn Lloyd-Jones</strong>. Considered one of the greatest preachers of the 20th century. You might want to start with his <a href="https://www.mljtrust.org/free-sermons/book-of-ephesians/">Ephesians series</a> (232 sermons) or <a href="https://www.mljtrust.org/free-sermons/book-of-romans/">Romans series</a> (366 sermons). Many more Lloyd-Jones sermons are available at <a href="https://www.mljtrust.org/">mljtrust.org</a>.</li>
<li><strong>Sinclair Ferguson</strong>. One of the greatest Reformed theologians alive today. His sermons are a combination of theological depth and a compassionate pastoral heart. <a href="https://www.sermonaudio.com/search.asp?subsetitem=Romans&amp;subsetcat=bible&amp;keyword=Dr%2E%5FSinclair%5FB%2E%5FFerguson&amp;SpeakerOnly=true&amp;includekeywords=&amp;ExactVerse=">Romans</a>, <a href="https://www.sermonaudio.com/search.asp?subsetitem=Gospel+of+God%2C+Psalms+of+David&amp;subsetcat=series&amp;keyword=Dr%2E%5FSinclair%5FB%2E%5FFerguson&amp;SpeakerOnly=true&amp;includekeywords=&amp;ExactVerse=">Psalms</a>, and hundreds more sermons <a href="https://www.sermonaudio.com/search.asp?speakeronly=true&amp;currsection=sermonsspeaker&amp;keyword=Dr._Sinclair_B._Ferguson">here</a>.</li>
<li><strong>Liam Goligher</strong>. Pastor at the historic Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. Check out his <a href="https://www.sermonaudio.com/search.asp?sortby=oldest&amp;keyword=Liam%5FGoligher&amp;SpeakerOnly=true&amp;subsetcat=series&amp;subsetitem=Hebrews&amp;AudioOnly=false">Hebrews</a> series or <a href="https://www.sermonaudio.com/search.asp?seriesOnly=true&amp;currSection=sermonstopic&amp;sourceid=tenth&amp;keyword=The+Gospel+According+to+Isaiah&amp;keyworddesc=The+Gospel+According+to+Isaiah">Isaiah</a> (audio and video).</li>
<li><strong>Alistair Begg</strong>. Pastor at Parkside Church in Cleveland. Hundreds of free sermons available in audio and video through <a href="https://www.truthforlife.org/">Truth for Life</a>.</li>
<li><strong>Brian Borgman</strong>. Pastor of Grace Community Church (a fellow FIRE church) in Minden, Nevada. He’s preached for us at GBC many times. SermonAudio.com hosts 2,806 of his sermons and lectures, many of which are available in both audio and video formats. He’s currently preaching (slowly) through <a href="https://www.sermonaudio.com/search.asp?subsetitem=An+Exposition+of+Romans&amp;subsetcat=series&amp;keyword=Brian%5FBorgman&amp;SpeakerOnly=true&amp;includekeywords=&amp;ExactVerse=">Romans</a>. I’ve heard good things about his Survey of <a href="https://www.sermonaudio.com/search.asp?subsetitem=A+Survey+of+Church+History&amp;subsetcat=series&amp;keyword=Brian%5FBorgman&amp;SpeakerOnly=true&amp;includekeywords=&amp;ExactVerse=">Church History</a>.</li>
<li><strong>Grace Bible Church</strong>. You already know about this one, right? Over 1,700 sermons preached at GBC, going all the way back to 1990, available at <a href="https://www.sermonaudio.com/search.asp?SourceOnly=true&amp;currSection=sermonssource&amp;keyword=grcbible">SermonAudio.com</a>.</li>
</ul>
<p>I hope you find some of these resources useful. Enjoy!</p>
<p><em>Originally written for the <a href="https://grcbible.org/">church</a> where I serve as one of the pastors.</em></p>
The Hills in the Distance Are Always Blue2016-04-06T00:00:00-07:00https://ryanlwentzel.com/2016/04/06/blue-hills<p>The hills in the distance appear deceptively blue. So says Burley Coulter, the sometime sage of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_William_(Wendell_Berry)#The_Port_William_Membership">Port William Membership</a>.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Uncle Burley said hills always looked blue when you were far away from them. That was a pretty color for hills; the little houses and barns and fields looked so neat and quiet tucked against them. It made you want to be close to them. But he said that when you got close they were like the hills you’d left, and when you looked back your own hills were blue and you wanted to go back again. He said he reckoned a man could wear himself out going back and forth.<br />
— Wendell Berry, <em>Nathan Coulter</em>, 7.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Don’t wear yourself out. Be content.</p>
Why Read Fiction?2016-04-04T08:00:00-07:00https://ryanlwentzel.com/2016/04/04/why-read-fiction<p>On a <a href="http://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/how-do-you-use-your-iphone-and-ipad-in-christian-growth">recent episode</a> of <a href="http://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/by-series/ask-pastor-john"><em>Ask Pastor John</em></a>, John Piper discussed how he uses technology in his Bible reading, prayer, relationships, and entertainment. While discussing the tools he uses for reading eBooks Piper provided a helpful explanation of why reading fiction is beneficial for us.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I think one of the things that great literature does, fiction included, is that it touches us in places and ways through insights we haven’t had and emotions we haven’t experienced that make us wider, deeper persons when we come to the Word of God itself so that we are more useful in God’s hands and we are more capable of even knowing and experiencing more of him.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I’ve read several novels in recent months that have affected me in the ways described by Piper. I know that everyone’s taste in books is different, but I encourage you to give one of the books listed below a read.</p>
<p><a href="http://amzn.to/1Y5cSRx">Cry, The Beloved Country</a><br />
Alan Paton’s 1948 novel about South Africa is one of the more powerful novels I’ve read. Both the prose and story are moving. The story follows Stephen Kumalo, an elderly Zulu Anglican priest, as he searches for his sister and his son Absolom in the crowded and dangerous city of Johannesburg. I especially enjoyed the spiritual friendship that develops between Kumalo and a fellow priest.</p>
<p><a href="http://wingfeathersaga.com/books-2/">The Wingfeather Saga</a><br />
Humor, mystery, adventure, danger, family bonds, compassion, sorrow, joy, hope, and more are found in Andrew Peterson’s four novel series about the Igiby family. I read this series to my kids. They loved the books. My wife and I loved them too!</p>
<p><a href="http://amzn.to/1qc4B3M">Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves</a><br />
Bertie and Jeeves provided me with some much needed laughter during a rather discouraging time.</p>
<p><a href="http://amzn.to/237e22x">Remembering: A Novel</a><br />
Andy Catlett is a broken man, broken physically and emotionally. As he begins to remember the people and the place from which he fled his brokenness is transformed. Another excellent entry in Wendell Berry’s <em>Port William</em> series of novels. Read it slowly and thoughtfully.</p>
A Ground of Solid Comfort2016-03-29T20:00:00-07:00https://ryanlwentzel.com/2016/03/29/ground-of-solid-comfort<blockquote>
<p>The perfect satisfaction of the Father with Christ’s work for his people, so that Christ could say, ‘It is finished,’ is a ground of solid comfort to his church evermore.<br />
— Charles Spurgeon, Sermon no. 2344: “Christ’s Dying Word for His Church”</p>
</blockquote>
Head and Heart2014-12-07T06:55:00-08:00https://ryanlwentzel.com/2014/12/07/head-and-heart<blockquote>
<p>The more extensive and accurate are our views of literal truth, so much the more numerous and salutary
are the forms which it may assume for enlisting the affections. It is a tendency of pietism to undervalue the
human intellect for the sake of exalting the affections, as if the reason had fallen deeper than the will.
It cannot be a pious act to underrate those powers which were given by him who made the soul in his image. We must speculate.
<strong><em>The heart is famished by an idle intellect</em></strong>.<br />
— Charles Hodge, The Theology of the Intellect and That of the Feelings (emphasis added).</p>
</blockquote>
The Wonderful Exchange2014-12-05T06:55:00-08:00https://ryanlwentzel.com/2014/12/05/the-wonderful-exchange<blockquote>
<p>This is the wonderful exchange which, out of his measureless benevolence, he has made with us; that, becoming Son of man with us, he has made us sons of God with him; that, by his descent to earth, he has prepared an ascent to heaven for us; that, by taking on our mortality, has conferred his immortality upon us; that, accepting our weakness, he has strengthened us by his power; that, receiving our poverty unto himself, he has transferred his wealth to us; that, taking the weight of our iniquity upon himself (which oppressed us), he has clothed us with his righteousness.<br />
— John Calvin, <em>Institutes of the Christian Religion</em>, 4.17.2.</p>
</blockquote>
2014 Summer Reading2014-06-20T06:30:00-07:00https://ryanlwentzel.com/2014/06/20/summer-reading<p>This summer I’m planning to continue or finish reading a few books I started earlier in the year. I’d also like to work my way through a few additional titles.</p>
<p><em><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0618645616/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0618645616&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=ryanwentze-20&amp;linkId=VCT74NDV54M5UW6H">The Lord of the Rings</a></em>, J.R.R. Tolkien</p>
<p><img class="alignright" src="https://d1yo597syf8yny.cloudfront.net/images/lotr-one-volume.jpg" /> I never tire of <em>The Lord of the Rings</em>. I began reading through it again at the beginning of the year and have made it to <em>The Two Towers</em>. I don’t intend to finish the entire series this summer. I’m enjoying Tolkien’s writing too much to plow through it quickly. I enjoy getting lost in the world he created.</p>
<div class="clear"></div>
<hr />
<p><em><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0671447548/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0671447548&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=ryanwentze-20&amp;linkId=LJRSQAEQ632V62IK">Mornings on Horseback: The Story of an Extraordinary Family, a Vanished Way of Life and the Unique Child Who Became Theodore Roosevelt</a></em>, David McCullough</p>
<p><img class="alignright" src="https://d1yo597syf8yny.cloudfront.net/images/mornings-on-horseback-cover.jpg" /> This is another one that I began to read earlier in the year. I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve read by David McCullough, and <em>Mornings on Horseback</em> is no exception. In this biography, McCullough takes a look at the young Theodore Roosevelt and the family that played such a big role in shaping his character and identity.</p>
<div class="clear"></div>
<hr />
<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1451683235/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=1451683235&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=ryanwentze-20&amp;linkId=LNH4Q2RQ7MIXX4QR">The Great Bridge: The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge, David McCullough</a></p>
<p><img class="alignright" src="https://d1yo597syf8yny.cloudfront.net/images/great-bridge-cover.jpg" /> Yes, another McCullough book. This one was given to me as a Father’s Day present. My wife and children know me very well. In fact, they know me so well that they bought me the 40th anniversary hardback edition instead of the paperback.</p>
<div class="clear"></div>
<hr />
<p>In addition to the titles above I’m eyeing <em><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0062116290/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0062116290&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=ryanwentze-20&amp;linkId=Q2SXUZOGX3DHVNDZ">Clouds of Glory: The Life and Legend of Robert E. Lee</a></em> by Michael Korda. I’m also in the mood for something by Wendell Berry. I’ve read <em><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004SOYX8Y/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B004SOYX8Y&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=ryanwentze-20&amp;linkId=TJAA5FO4P72D3Y5U">Hannah Coulter</a></em>, <em><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003SNIZV2/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B003SNIZV2&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=ryanwentze-20&amp;linkId=525NPZOFPVJYKBDF">Jayber Crow</a></em>, and <em><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001YQGQIO/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B001YQGQIO&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=ryanwentze-20&amp;linkId=OIAMYYVCEMCZGRSK">A Place on Earth</a></em>. Any recommendations?</p>
<p>What are you planning to read this summer?</p>
Preaching Christ from the Old Testament2014-06-18T06:25:00-07:00https://ryanlwentzel.com/2014/06/18/finding-and-preaching-christ-in-ot-05<p><em>Today’s post is the fifth and final entry in a series on finding and preaching Christ in the Old Testament. See <a href="/2014/06/09/finding-and-preaching-christ-introduction/">part 1</a>, <a href="/2014/06/11/finding-and-preaching-christ-in-ot-02/">part 2</a>, <a href="/2014/06/13/finding-and-preaching-christ-in-ot-03/">part 3</a>, and <a href="/2014/06/16/finding-and-preaching-christ-in-ot-04/">part 4</a>.</em></p>
<hr />
<p>The preacher who seeks to proclaim Christ from the OT has a rewarding, but challenging task. He will be helped in his efforts to proclaim Christ in all the Scriptures by keeping in mind the following important guidelines.</p>
<h2 id="four-practical-guidelines">Four Practical Guidelines</h2>
<p><strong>1. Identifying OT types is not a matter of speculation or imagination, but rather biblical-theological exegesis and reflection.</strong> Goldsworthy has helpfully summarized the four primary characteristics of a type identified by John Currid. Remembering these characteristics will help preachers avoid speculation and allegorical interpretations in their attempts to find Christ in the OT.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>First, it must be grounded in history; both type and antitype must be actual historical events, persons, or institutions. Second, there must be both a historical and theological correspondence between type and antitype. Third, there must be an intensification of the antitype from the type. Fourth, some evidence that the type is ordained by God to foreshadow the antitype must be present.<sup><a id="fnref-20140618-christ-in-ot-1" href="#fn-20140618-christ-in-ot-1">1</a></sup></p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>2. Later biblical revelation, particularly the NT, ought to be consulted when studying an OT passage.</strong> The preacher must work at understanding an OT passage in its original context through an analysis of the text’s grammar, literary features, and historical situation. However, after exegeting the text in its original context, the preacher ought to allow the rest of the canon to illuminate the ways in which the passage bears witness to the person and work of Christ.</p>
<p>Graeme Goldsworthy writes,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Progressive revelation requires that we must always allow God’s later and fuller words to interpret the meaning of the earlier and less explicit words…Again I must stress that while earlier expressions help us understand the later, it is the later fulfillment which must interpret the real significance of the earlier expressions. This means, of course, that the earlier expressions point to things beyond themselves that are greater than the meaning that would have been perceived by those receiving these earlier expressions.<sup><a id="fnref-20140618-christ-in-ot-2" href="#fn-20140618-christ-in-ot-2">2</a></sup></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Questions such as, <em>“Does the NT quote or allude to the passage under consideration?”</em> and <em>“Are there themes in the passage that are prominent in the NT or elsewhere in the OT?”</em> should be considered.</p>
<p><strong>3. Jesus is the hero of the story.</strong> Often preachers focus on how an OT character provides an example for the congregation to follow. For example, a sermon on David’s defeat of Goliath in 1 Samuel 17 may exhort the congregation to be like David by facing the giants in their lives. However, the primary application of this OT text is that the congregation, like the fearful army of Israel, needs a champion who will fight their battle and gain the victory for them. The congregation needs to hear that just as “David won the victory over Goliath without the help of Israel’s fearful army, so Jesus Christ went to the cross alone and defeated Satan, sin, and death” for them.<sup><a id="fnref-20140618-christ-in-ot-3" href="#fn-20140618-christ-in-ot-3">3</a></sup></p>
<p><strong>4. The goal of preaching Christ-centered OT sermons is to <em>edify</em> rather than <em>mesmerize</em> the congregation.</strong> The preacher who has discovered Christ in the OT will be tempted to craft a sermon that is a redemptive-historical masterpiece. In his attempts to highlight the patterns of redemption in an OT text he may inadvertently obscure the Redeemer to whom the text points.<sup><a id="fnref-20140618-christ-in-ot-4" href="#fn-20140618-christ-in-ot-4">4</a></sup> This can be avoided by not only making the connections between the text and Christ, but also demonstrating how the aspects of the person and work of Christ found in the text apply to the hearers.</p>
<h2 id="conclusion">Conclusion</h2>
<p>The OT is a book about Jesus Christ. From the opening chapters of Genesis to the end of Malachi, the OT bears witness to the person and work of Christ through typology and promise. Prophets, priests, and kings were designed by God to foreshadow the greater Prophet, Priest, and King to come. The OT’s animal sacrifices pointed forward to the “Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world” (John 1:29, ESV). The promises of a coming Savior are fulfilled in “Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham” (Matt. 1:1, ESV). Through Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and ascension God has accomplished the great salvation that his ancient promises announced (Acts 13:33). Finally, Christian preachers today have the great privilege and responsibility of proclaiming Christ in all the Scriptures (Luke 24:27).</p>
<ol class="entry-footnotes">
<li>Graeme Goldsworthy, <em>Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture: The Application of Biblical Theology to Expository Preaching</em> (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000), 111, citing John Currid, “Recognition and Use of Typology in Preaching,” <em>Reformed Theological Review</em> 53, no. 3 (1994): 121. <a id="fn-20140618-christ-in-ot-1" href="#fnref-20140618-christ-in-ot-1">[&#8617;]</a></li>
<li>Graeme Goldsworthy, <em>According to Plan: The Unfolding Revelation of God in the Bible</em> (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2002), 123. <a id="fn-20140618-christ-in-ot-2" href="#fnref-20140618-christ-in-ot-2">[&#8617;]</a></li>
<li>Jim Newheiser, <em>Opening Up 1 Samuel</em> (Leominster, England: Day One, 2011), 102. <a id="fn-20140618-christ-in-ot-3" href="#fnref-20140618-christ-in-ot-3">[&#8617;]</a></li>
<li>Dennis E. Johnson, <em>Him We Proclaim: Preaching Christ from All the Scriptures</em> (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&amp;R, 2007), 17. <a id="fn-20140618-christ-in-ot-4" href="#fnref-20140618-christ-in-ot-4">[&#8617;]</a></li>
</ol>
Finding and Preaching Christ in the Old Testament: Promise2014-06-16T06:30:00-07:00https://ryanlwentzel.com/2014/06/16/finding-and-preaching-christ-in-ot-04<p>In the <a href="/2014/06/13/finding-and-preaching-christ-in-ot-03/">previous post</a> we began to examine the nature of the Old Testament’s witness to Christ by considering the Bible’s use of typology.</p>
<h2 id="promise-in-the-old-testament">Promise in the Old Testament</h2>
<p>A second key way in which the OT bears witness to the person and work of Christ is through promises of a coming Savior and salvation. God’s promises directed the hopes of his people toward a time when his redemptive purposes would be fulfilled (Heb. 10:39-40). Although there were immediate and partial fulfillments of many of the promises in OT times, the OT ends as an incomplete story.<sup><a id="fnref-20140616-christ-in-ot-1" href="#fn-20140616-christ-in-ot-1">1</a></sup> The promise of a glorious day of salvation had yet to be fulfilled. The good news proclaimed by the NT is that God’s promises have been fulfilled in Jesus Christ (Rom. 15:8; 2 Cor. 1:20).</p>
<h2 id="jesus-fulfills-gods-promises">Jesus Fulfills God’s Promises</h2>
<p>Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of God’s promises to Abraham (Gen. 12:1-3, 7; 15; 17). He is the promised offspring (Gal. 3:16). Through faith in Christ, both Jews and Gentiles become true children of Abraham thus fulfilling God’s promises to him of innumerable descendants and worldwide blessing (Gal. 3:14, 29).</p>
<p>God’s promises to David are also fulfilled in Christ. He is the son of David (Matt. 1:1; 9:27; Rom. 1:3; 2 Tim. 2:8) whose kingdom is everlasting (2 Sam. 7:12-13; Luke 1:32-33). As God’s Son (Matt. 3:17; 11:25-27), Jesus enjoys the unique relationship with the Father promised to David’s heir (2 Sam. 7:14; Ps. 2:7; Heb. 1:5). He is the promised Davidic Messiah (Isa. 7:14; 9:1-7; Jer. 23:5-6; Matt. 1:22-23; 4:15-16) who sits at God’s right hand (Ps. 110:1; Heb. 1:3, 13) and faithfully shepherds God’s people (2 Sam. 5:2; Ezek. 34:11-24; 37:15-28; Mic. 5:2; cf. Matt. 2:5-6; John 10:1-18). Yet, as the Servant of the Lord who gives his life as an atonement for the sins of the people (Isa. 42:1-7; 49:1-6; 50:4-11; 52:13-53:12; Acts 8:29-35; 1 Pet. 2:24-25), Jesus fulfilled these promises in a way that surprised his disciples (Matt. 16:21-23) and his opponents (Matt. 27:39-44).<sup><a id="fnref-20140616-christ-in-ot-2" href="#fn-20140616-christ-in-ot-2">2</a></sup></p>
<p>Finally, as Dennis Johnson has insightfully observed, Jesus fulfills the OT promises of a future “superior redemptive arrangement.”<sup><a id="fnref-20140616-christ-in-ot-3" href="#fn-20140616-christ-in-ot-3">3</a></sup> He is the Melchizedekan priest whose priesthood “surpasses Aaron’s in its permanence, grounded in [Jesus’] eternal life and the Father’s unbreakable oath” (Ps. 110:4; Heb. 6:20; 7:11-28).<sup><a id="fnref-20140616-christ-in-ot-4" href="#fn-20140616-christ-in-ot-4">4</a></sup> In contrast to the Aaronic priests who repeatedly offered sacrifices for the sins of the people, Jesus, as the great high priest, offered a single sacrifice that has secured eternal redemption for his people (Heb. 7:27; 9:11-14, 24-28; 10:1-18). He is mediator of the promised new covenant, a covenant “characterized by internalization of God’s law, expansion of intimate knowledge of God, and forgiveness of sins.”<sup><a id="fnref-20140616-christ-in-ot-5" href="#fn-20140616-christ-in-ot-5">5</a></sup></p>
<p>God’s ancient promises pointed forward to and have been fulfilled in Jesus Christ.</p>
<ol class="entry-footnotes">
<li id="fn-20140616-christ-in-ot-1">For discussions of the concept of multiple levels of fulfillment of OT promises, see David L. Baker. <em>Two Testaments, One Bible: The Theological Relationship Between the Old and New Testaments</em> (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2010), 208-217; Christopher J.H. Wright, <em>Knowing Jesus Through the Old Testament</em> (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1995), 70-77. <a href="#fnref-20140616-christ-in-ot-1">[&#8617;]</a></li>
<li id="fn-20140616-christ-in-ot-2">Bruce K. Waltke and Charles Yu, <em>An Old Testament Theology: An Exegetical, Canonical, and Thematic Approach</em> (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2007), 888-889; Thomas R. Schreiner, <em>New Testament Theology: Magnifying God in Christ</em> (Grank Rapids: Baker Academic, 2008), 205-232. <a href="#fnref-20140616-christ-in-ot-2">[&#8617;]</a></li>
<li id="fn-20140616-christ-in-ot-3">Dennis E. Johnson, <em>Him We Proclaim: Preaching Christ from All the Scriptures</em> (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&amp;R, 2007), 180. <a href="#fnref-20140616-christ-in-ot-3">[&#8617;]</a></li>
<li id="fn-20140616-christ-in-ot-4"><em>Ibid</em>., 179. <a href="#fnref-20140616-christ-in-ot-4">[&#8617;]</a></li>
<li id="fn-20140616-christ-in-ot-5"><em>Ibid.</em>, 182. <a href="#fnref-20140616-christ-in-ot-5">[&#8617;]</a></li>
</ol>
Finding and Preaching Christ in the Old Testament: Typology2014-06-13T07:11:00-07:00https://ryanlwentzel.com/2014/06/13/finding-and-preaching-christ-in-ot-03<p>Today’s post is the third in a series where we’re looking at finding and preaching Christ in the Old Testament. In a <a href="/2014/06/11/finding-and-preaching-christ-in-ot-02/">previous post</a> we saw that according to the New Testament the Old Testament bears witness to Jesus Christ. Today we will begin to examine the nature of the Old Testament’s witness.</p>
<p>The Old Testament’s witness to Christ is not as clear or detailed as the New Testament’s, yet it is an essential component of the Bible’s presentation of who Jesus is and the salvation he accomplished. One key way in which the Old Testament bears witness to the person and work of Christ is through the use of typology.</p>
<h2 id="what-is-typology">What is Typology?</h2>
<p>Typology is concerned with the relationship between types and antitypes. A type prefigures or foreshadows a person, event, or institution. An antitype fulfills or completes the type. As it relates to the OT’s witness to the person and work of Christ, typology involves the idea that God designed certain people, events, offices, and institutions in the OT to prefigure or foreshadow Christ and his redemptive work.<sup><a id="fnref-20140613-christ-in-ot-1" href="#fn-20140613-christ-in-ot-1">1</a></sup> Dennis Johnson writes,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The God who creates, reigns, redeems, and judges in history, and who speaks in Scripture, abounds in surprising ingenuity, but is also a wise planner who works by pattern and gives human beings, created in his image and recreated in the image of the Son, glimpses into the patterns of his planning. Long before he sent his Son to bring rescue in the “fullness of time” (Gal. 4:4), he sovereignly designed events, institutions, and individual leaders to provide foretastes of the feast, whetting Israel’s appetite for the coming Savior and salvation.<sup><a id="fnref-20140613-christ-in-ot-2" href="#fn-20140613-christ-in-ot-2">2</a></sup></p>
</blockquote>
<h2 id="typology-in-the-new-testament">Typology in the New Testament</h2>
<p>Both the New and Old Testaments are replete with typology. Johnson has identified five categories of typological interpretation in the NT, three of which are highlighted below.<sup><a id="fnref-20140613-christ-in-ot-3" href="#fn-20140613-christ-in-ot-3">3</a></sup></p>
<p>First, there are instances where the NT explicitly refers to an OT person or event as typological of Christ or an aspect of his redemptive work. Included in this category are Adam (Rom. 5:14; cf. 1 Cor. 15), Israel in the wilderness (1 Cor. 10:6, 11), the flood (1 Pet. 3:21), and the OT sacrificial system (Heb. 10:1).<sup><a id="fnref-20140613-christ-in-ot-4" href="#fn-20140613-christ-in-ot-4">4</a></sup></p>
<p>Second, the NT declares various OT passages to be fulfilled by Christ.<sup><a id="fnref-20140613-christ-in-ot-5" href="#fn-20140613-christ-in-ot-5">5</a></sup> Matthew records five events from Jesus’ conception, birth, and early childhood that fulfill the OT (1:22-23, citing Isa. 7:14; 2:5-6, citing Mic. 5:2; 2:15, citing Hos. 11:1; 2:17-18, citing Jer. 31:15; 2:23, possibly alluding to several OT passages).<sup><a id="fnref-20140613-christ-in-ot-6" href="#fn-20140613-christ-in-ot-6">6</a></sup> Throughout the rest of his Gospel, Matthew highlights a number of events in Jesus’ life and ministry that fulfill OT passages. For example, Jesus fulfilled the OT by taking up residence in Capernaum (4:13-16, citing Isa. 9:1-2), by casting out demons and healing the sick (8:17, citing Isa. 53:4; 12:17-21, citing Isa. 42:1-3), by speaking in parables (13:14-15, citing Isa. 6:9,10; 13:35, citing Ps. 78:2), and by entering Jerusalem on a colt (21:4, citing Zech. 9:9).</p>
<p>Third, there are instances of unmistakable allusions to the OT that are applied to Christ. Johnson writes that in this category “belong Old Testament events, persons, or individuals identified as typological of Christ and his church not by means of a direct citation but through unmistakable and undeniable allusions.” Examples that belong to this category include Jesus’ comparison of his crucifixion to the lifting up of the bronze serpent (John 3:14-15, cf. Num. 21:4-9) and Luke’s allusions to the prophetic ministries of Elijah and Elisha (see Luke 7-9).<sup><a id="fnref-20140613-christ-in-ot-7" href="#fn-20140613-christ-in-ot-7">7</a></sup></p>
<h2 id="typology-in-the-old-testament">Typology in the Old Testament</h2>
<p>David L. Baker has noted that the Old Testament also employs typology. Earlier individuals and events are presented as patterns or types of God’s future redemptive actions. Moses is a type of the great prophet whom God will send to his people (Deut. 18:15, 18). David is a type of the king whom God will raise up (Isa. 11:1; 55:3-4; Jer. 23:5; Ezek. 34:23-24; Amos 9:11), and Isaiah anticipates a new exodus that is patterned after and supersedes the exodus from Egypt (Isa. 43:16-21; 48:20-21; 51:9-11; 52:11-12).<sup><a id="fnref-20140613-christ-in-ot-8" href="#fn-20140613-christ-in-ot-8">8</a></sup> Thus, there are OT precedents for the NT’s typological interpretation of OT individuals, events, offices, and institutions.<sup><a id="fnref-20140613-christ-in-ot-9" href="#fn-20140613-christ-in-ot-9">9</a></sup></p>
<h2 id="clearing-up-some-confusion">Clearing Up Some Confusion</h2>
<p>Typology must not be confused with allegory. Typology is concerned with historical people, events, and institutions not words. Allegory, on the other hand, is largely unconcerned with the historical events themselves, and instead searches for the deeper spiritual meaning behind the events. Also, typology implies a real theological or historical correspondence between the typological person, event, or institution and its antitype.<sup><a id="fnref-20140613-christ-in-ot-10" href="#fn-20140613-christ-in-ot-10">10</a></sup> This correspondence between a type and antitype is rooted in God’s sovereign ordering of history and the divine inspiration of Scripture.</p>
<h2 id="an-example-of-the-old-testaments-typological-witness-to-jesus-christ">An Example of the Old Testament’s Typological Witness to Jesus Christ</h2>
<p>In order to illustrate how OT types point to Christ, the example of Moses will be considered in more detail. As has already been observed, the OT interprets Moses as a type of the prophet whom God will send to his people: “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen” (Deut. 18:15, ESV). The NT identifies Jesus of Nazareth as the fulfillment of this OT type (Acts 3:22-24). Like Moses, Jesus was appointed by God to speak to the people what God had commanded him (John 12:49; cf. Deut. 18:18).<sup><a id="fnref-20140613-christ-in-ot-11" href="#fn-20140613-christ-in-ot-11">11</a></sup> Yet, Jesus is superior to Moses. He does not merely speak God’s words, he is the Word of God, God’s fullest and final revelation (John 1:1-3, 14, 18; Rev. 19:13; Heb. 1:1-2).</p>
<p>The correspondence between Moses and Christ is more extensive than merely Jesus’ fulfillment of the Deuteronomy passage. There are thematic and theological parallels between the two that reveal the richness of Moses’ typological witness to the person and work of Christ.</p>
<ul>
<li>Moses delivered the people of God from bondage to an oppressive ruler (Ex. 3:7-10). Jesus has delivered his people from bondage to sin, death, and the Devil (Rom. 6:6; Heb. 2:14-15).</li>
<li>Moses was the mediator of the old covenant—a covenant ratified with the blood of animals (Ex. 24:8). Jesus is the mediator of a better covenant—a covenant ratified with his own blood (Heb. 8:6; 9:15; Mark 14:24).<sup><a id="fnref-20140613-christ-in-ot-12" href="#fn-20140613-christ-in-ot-12">12</a></sup></li>
<li>Under the covenant that Moses mediated, God’s law was written on tablets of stone (Ex. 24:12). Under the covenant that Jesus mediates, God’s law is written on human hearts (Jer. 31:33; Ezek. 11:19-20).</li>
<li>The covenant Moses mediated was weak, ineffective, and temporary (Heb. 7:18-19; 8:13; 10:1). The covenant Jesus mediates is enacted on superior promises and results in eternal salvation (Heb. 8:6, 8-12; 9:11-2, 15).</li>
</ul>
<p>There is much more that could be said concerning the typological relationship between Moses and Christ.<sup><a id="fnref-20140613-christ-in-ot-13" href="#fn-20140613-christ-in-ot-13">13</a></sup> However, the preceding example demonstrates clearly enough how God designed OT people, events, offices, and institutions to both provide a context for understanding the person and work of Christ and to point forward to him.</p>
<ol class="entry-footnotes">
<li id="fn-20140613-christ-in-ot-1">G. R. Osborne, “Type; Typology,” in <em>ISBE</em>, ed. Geoffrey W. Bromiley (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1988), 4:930; Goldsworthy, <em>Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture</em>, 77. [<a href="#fnref-20140613-christ-in-ot-1">&#8617;</a>]</li>
<li id="fn-20140613-christ-in-ot-2">Dennis E. Johnson, <em>Him We Proclaim: Preaching Christ from All the Scriptures</em> (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&amp;R, 2007), 198-1999. <a href="#fnref-20140613-christ-in-ot-2">[&#8617;]</a></li>
<li id="fn-20140613-christ-in-ot-3"><em>Ibid.</em>, 199. The two categories not discussed here are 1) subtle and debatable allusions to OT events, persons, and institutions and 2) general OT patterns fulfilled in Christ and his work. Johnson considers these two categories of typology to be valid, but less obvious than the others discussed above. <a href="#fnref-20140613-christ-in-ot-3">[&#8617;]</a></li>
<li id="fn-20140613-christ-in-ot-4"><em>Ibid.</em>, 200-206. <a href="#fnref-20140613-christ-in-ot-4">[&#8617;]</a></li>
<li id="fn-20140613-christ-in-ot-5"><em>Ibid.</em>, 207-209. <a href="#fnref-20140613-christ-in-ot-5">[&#8617;]</a></li>
<li id="fn-20140613-christ-in-ot-6">For a helpful discussion of how these events fulfill OT passages, see Christopher J.H. Wright, <em>Knowing Jesus Through the Old Testament</em> (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1995), 55-64. <a href="#fnref-20140613-christ-in-ot-6">[&#8617;]</a></li>
<li id="fn-20140613-christ-in-ot-7">Johnson, 209-211. <a href="#fnref-20140613-christ-in-ot-7">[&#8617;]</a></li>
<li id="fn-20140613-christ-in-ot-8"> David L. Baker. <em>Two Testaments, One Bible: The Theological Relationship Between the Old and New Testaments</em> (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2010), 171. <a href="#fnref-20140613-christ-in-ot-8">[&#8617;]</a></li>
<li id="fn-20140613-christ-in-ot-9">Johnson, 219. <a href="#fnref-20140613-christ-in-ot-9">[&#8617;]</a></li>
<li id="fn-20140613-christ-in-ot-10">Baker, 179-180; Goldsworthy, <em>Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture</em>, 77. <a href="#fnref-20140613-christ-in-ot-10">[&#8617;]</a></li>
<li id="fn-20140613-christ-in-ot-11">Philip Edgcumbe Hughes, <em>A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews</em> (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1977), 135-136; Andreas J. Köstenberger, “John,” in <em>Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament</em>, ed. G. K. Beale and D. A. Carson (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007), 483. <a href="#fnref-20140613-christ-in-ot-11">[&#8617;]</a></li>
<li id="fn-20140613-christ-in-ot-12">Richard D. Phillips, <em>Hebrews</em> (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&amp;R, 2006), 315–317. <a href="#fnref-20140613-christ-in-ot-12">[&#8617;]</a></li>
<li id="fn-20140613-christ-in-ot-13">For more parallels between Moses and Christ, see Hebrews 3:1-4:13 and 12:18-29. <a href="#fnref-20140613-christ-in-ot-13">[&#8617;]</a></li>
</ol>
Finding and Preaching Christ in the Old Testament: The Old Testament Bears Witness to Christ2014-06-11T06:30:00-07:00https://ryanlwentzel.com/2014/06/11/finding-and-preaching-christ-in-ot-02<p>In the <a href="/2014/06/09/finding-and-preaching-christ-introduction/">previous post</a> in this series we considered the challenge of preaching Christ-centered sermons from the Old Testament. In a future post we will examine how the OT bears witness to the person and work of Christ. However, before exploring the <strong><em>how</em></strong> we must first establish the fact that the OT <strong><em>does</em></strong> bear witness to Christ. First, the teaching of Jesus, Paul, and Peter will be considered. Second, the NT’s presentation of the storyline of the OT will be examined. Third, the way in which progressive revelation affects the OT’s witness to Christ will be explored.</p>
<h2 id="the-teaching-of-jesus-and-the-apostles">The Teaching of Jesus and the Apostles</h2>
<p>Jesus declared to his opponents among the Jewish religious leaders that the OT Scriptures, in particular the books of Moses, bear witness about him (John 5:39-40, 46-47). After his resurrection, Jesus instructed his disciples that the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms bear witness to his suffering, death, and resurrection.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself (Luke 24:25-27, ESV).</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem (Luke 24:44-47, ESV).</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In the epistles to the Galatians and the Romans, Paul wrote that Genesis and the prophetic writings bear witness about the gospel of Jesus Christ (Gal. 3:8; Rom. 1:2-3). Similarly, Peter wrote that the OT prophets foretold Christ’s sufferings and glorification (1 Pet. 1:10-12). According to Jesus and the Apostles, the OT Scriptures bear witness to the person and work of Christ.</p>
<h2 id="the-storyline-of-the-old-testament">The Storyline of the Old Testament</h2>
<p>The OT witness about Christ is not limited to a handful of texts scattered throughout the OT. It is at the heart of the OT storyline itself. The OT anticipates and progresses toward Christ, and ultimately is fulfilled and completed by him.<sup id="fnref:1"><a href="#fn:1" class="footnote">1</a></sup> This can be seen in the ways in which the NT structures its presentation of the OT story and Jesus’ relationship to it. For example, each of the Synoptic Gospels begins by placing Jesus’ birth and ministry in the context of the OT. Matthew presents Jesus as the long awaited son of Abraham and son of David (Matt. 1:1-17). Mark records Jesus’ declaration at the onset of his public ministry that the promised kingdom of God had arrived in him (Mark 1:14-15). Luke records the angel’s announcement to Mary of the birth of Christ, in whom the promises to David are fulfilled (Luke 1:31-33).</p>
<p>The sermons and discourses in Acts reinforce the idea that the trajectory of the OT storyline is directed toward Christ. Peter’s sermon at Pentecost dwells on the prophetic ministry of David that pointed forward to the resurrection of Christ (Acts 2:22-36). Stephen’s defense in Acts 7 is a recital of God’s redemptive activity in the OT. It begins with God’s promise to Abraham, moves on to Moses and the exodus from Egypt, proceeds to David and Solomon, and then reaches its climax in Jesus Christ. Similarly, Paul preaches the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ as the culmination of the story begun in the OT (Acts 13:16-41).</p>
<p>Lastly, it should be noted that Hebrews provides the most extensive exposition in the NT concerning how the OT storyline points forward to Christ. It connects Jesus and his redemptive work to OT people (e.g. Moses and Aaron), offices (e.g. prophet, priest, and king), and institutions (e.g. sacrificial system), demonstrating that the storyline of the OT progresses toward Jesus Christ in the NT.</p>
<h2 id="the-old-testament-and-progressive-revelation">The Old Testament and Progressive Revelation</h2>
<p>The fact that the OT bears witness to the person and work of Christ does not mean that its witness is as clear or detailed as the NT’s witness to Christ. The OT prophets foretold Christ’s sufferings, but they did not have absolute clarity concerning when or in whom their prophecies would be fulfilled (1 Pet. 1:10-12). The various witnesses to the person and work of Christ in the OT functioned as “shadows” of what was to come (Heb. 10:1). The nature of redemptive revelation is such that it unfolded with greater degrees of clarity and detail as God directed history toward its climax in the incarnation, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ (Luke 10:23-24; Rom. 16:25-26).<sup id="fnref:2"><a href="#fn:2" class="footnote">2</a></sup></p>
<h2 id="looking-ahead">Looking Ahead</h2>
<p>In the next post in this series we will begin to examine two key ways the Old Testament bears witness to the person and work of Jesus Christ.</p>
<div class="footnotes">
<ol>
<li id="fn:1">
<p>Christopher J. H. Wright, <em>Knowing Jesus Through the Old Testament</em> (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1995), 56. <a href="#fnref:1" class="reversefootnote">&#8617;</a></p>
</li>
<li id="fn:2">
<p>Graeme Goldsworthy, <em>Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture: The Application of Biblical Theology to Expository Preaching</em> (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000), 72-80. <a href="#fnref:2" class="reversefootnote">&#8617;</a></p>
</li>
</ol>
</div>
Finding and Preaching Christ in the Old Testament: Introduction2014-06-09T06:58:00-07:00https://ryanlwentzel.com/2014/06/09/finding-and-preaching-christ-introduction<p>Today I am beginning a new series of posts on finding and preaching Christ from the Old Testament. In this series we will consider the manner and extent to which the Old Testament bears witness to the person and work of Christ. My aim is to help preachers and teachers of God’s Word see that the Old Testmanet isn’t merely a collection of ancient stories. Rather, it is a rich, divinely inspired witness to our Lord and Savior.</p>
<h2 id="introduction">Introduction</h2>
<p>Preachers who seek to faithfully proclaim God’s Word recognize that they must make Christ the central focus of their preaching (1 Cor. 2:2; Col. 1:28). For this reason, much of their preaching ministry will be occupied with expounding the birth, life, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ from the pages of the NT.</p>
<p>However, those who have been entrusted with the task of proclaiming God’s Word also recognize that they cannot ignore the OT since “all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16-17, ESV).</p>
<p>Furthermore, the NT frequently quotes and alludes to the OT thus requiring preachers to interact with the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms in order to understand the message of the Gospels, Acts, the Epistles, and Revelation.</p>
<h2 id="the-challenge-of-preaching-the-old-testament">The Challenge of Preaching the Old Testament</h2>
<p>Preaching the OT can be challenging. The sheer volume of content in the OT is, at times, daunting. The world and culture in which the OT was written are far removed from those of the preacher and his congregation. In addition, the diversity of genres and themes found within the OT require sharp exegetical and theological skills if one is to understand its message.</p>
<p>Perhaps the most challenging aspect of preaching from the OT is making Christ the central focus of the sermon. Preachers are faced with questions like, <em>“Can the OT be preached as Christian Scripture? Does the OT have anything to say about Christ? If so, how does the OT bear witness to Christ?”</em></p>
<h2 id="stay-tuned">Stay Tuned</h2>
<p>In the <a href="/2014/06/11/finding-and-preaching-christ-in-ot-02/">next post</a> in this series we will consider the teaching of Jesus and the Apostles on the Old Testament’s witness to Christ.</p>
The Psalms By Crossway2014-03-03T00:00:00-08:00https://ryanlwentzel.com/2014/03/03/the-psalms-by-crossway<p>While browsing the Bibles on Crossway's site I noticed that an <a href="http://www.crossway.org/bibles/the-psalms-esv-none-tru/" title="The Psalms by Crossway">edition of the Psalms</a> is planned for June 2014. <em>The Psalms</em> will feature a single column layout, 11 pt. type, and a sewn binding.</p>
<p><a href="/images/posts/the-psalms-screenshot-medium.png"><img src="/images/posts/the-psalms-screenshot-medium.png" alt="The Psalms" width="580" height="309" class="size-large wp-image-1303" /></a><br /></p>
<p>I'm looking forward to checking out this edition when it's released in June.</p>
John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 3.7.12013-05-28T00:00:00-07:00https://ryanlwentzel.com/2013/05/28/john-calvin-we-are-not-our-own<blockquote>
<p>We are not our own: let not our reason nor our will, therefore, sway our plans and deeds. We are not our own: let us therefore not set it at as our goal to seek what is expedient for us according to the flesh. We are not our own: in so far as we can, let us therefore forget ourselves and all that is ours.</p>
<p>Conversely, we are God's: let us therefore live for him and die for him. We are God's: let his wisdom and will therefore rule all our actions. We are God's: let all the parts of our life accordingly strive toward him as our only lawful goal.</p>
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